16 May , 201615 May , 2016 - Sarah 10 Comments

Living Arrows 20/52 (2016)

If you read this post you’ll know we’ve been having a pretty rubbish time of things recently. However, as I write this Gabe has finally got over his stomach bug or teething or whatever it was that was making his nappies so awful. The last couple of nights he’s actually slept reasonably well, for him, and even though he had me up at 5:30 am when he’s this cute you don’t mind too much. Of course now we’re just waiting to see how long it is before the chicken pox shows up but at least we might manage a few days without too much grumpiness.

And as for Toby; he is coping remarkably well with his chicken pox although thankfully I don’t think he has too bad a case. He is a bit up and down, one minute he’s tired and lying in front of the TV and the next he’s charging around the house, like when I grabbed this shot.

A lot of his spots have crusted over now so I’m just hoping the rest of them do soon so he can at least enjoy a couple of days of our holiday at Center Parcs. And just cross your fingers that Gabe doesn’t show any symptoms until after we’re home!

9 May , 20168 May , 2016 - Sarah 11 Comments

Living Arrows 19/52 (2016)

We have, at last, all been relatively well this week (well, at least after Barry recovered from the bug that Toby had the week before). Nobody has got a cold for, I think, the first time since about February!

Gabe is still teething though and he has been having the most horrific teething poos ever – nearly every one leaks out of his nappy and requires a full change of clothes. The one at 2 am the other night that went right through to his sleeping bag was a real treat! He’s been OK in himself though – off his food a bit but I can’t say I blame him. I’m just hoping these next teeth come soon and we can all have a break.

I haven’t had the big camera out all this week though so both Living Arrows photos are iPhone snaps – I took this one of Gabe when I was pushing him up to the shop. He isn’t the easiest of babies sometimes but when he looks at you like this it does make all the sleepless nights worthwhile.

And I took this picture of Toby and his daddy at bedtime the other night. Toby has got really into his books in the last few months and we always have a bedtime story (or three!). Usually we end up reading the same stories over and over again for a few weeks and then he’ll have a change of heart and move onto something else, but the other night he chose a Noddy book for his daddy to read. This book actually belonged to me and my brother when we were little and I’ve had it (along without about six other Noddy books) for years, ever since I left home I think. I don’t know if you’ve ever read a Noddy book but they’re quite long so he’s been having one chapter a night. I wasn’t sure if he’d have the patience to sit through a longer story but he seems to be enjoying it…and I just love watching my lovely husband and my biggest boy enjoying time together.

3 May , 2016 - Sarah 3 Comments

Living Arrows 18/52 (2016)

I’m a bit late with this week’s post after a busy weekend away at Blog On in Manchester. Toby had a sickness bug at the end of last week but he seems mostly recovered now. Luckily Gabe seems to have mostly avoided it, but Barry is currently in bed feeling awful – I’m just hoping I’m not next in line!

These photos were taken last week before the bug struck…

Gabe is mostly loving his food (when he’s not feeling a bit poorly) and I think you can see how much he had enjoyed his spaghetti bolognese.

And although Toby perhaps spends a bit too much time on the tablet some days I love how much he focuses and concentrates on it. I think he was reading a Clangers story on the CBeebies Storytime app here.

25 April , 201624 April , 2016 - Sarah 8 Comments

Living Arrows 17/52 (2016)

It’s been a bit of a funny week here – we had some lovely weather and even managed to get out into the garden for a picnic but then towards the end of the week we had some tough times again as Gabe seemed to be having either a reflux flare up or a bit of stomach bug and threw up whole bottles all over me a couple of times. He seems to be OK again now, fingers crossed.

Toby is in a real toddler phase of pushing boundaries at the moment too so there have been a few tears and tantrums from him this week too when he doesn’t always get his own way. Bedtimes have been particularly tricky territory with lots of messing about and not wanting to go to sleep, but he does usually calm down and accept it’s time for bed when he realises he’ll be left by himself instead of one of us staying with him until he falls asleep like we usually do. I know this is totally normal for this age but it’s so frustrating when he’s been so good up until now.

Anyway, toddler troubles aside, yesterday we went out for lunch at a local farm and fruit picking place that has a great shop and cafe, and a fab playground too. I’ll probably share some more photos later in the week but for now I love these two close ups of the boys…

18 April , 201617 April , 2016 - Sarah 10 Comments

Living Arrows 16/52 (2016)

There have been some improvements this week; after Gabe’s sixth tooth cut through last weekend his cold has finally started to clear up too and we have a much happier boy on our hands. There’s still some work to do in the sleep department but we’re definitely heading in the right direction. Gabe’s main problem now is that he really wants to crawl but he can’t quite get all his arms and legs moving in the right order yet!

Toby has been his usual lovely self with just a couple of minor toddler dramas this week – mostly about not being allowed to play on my phone or having to put his shoes on for nursery. A major topic of conversation this week has been about who in our family has a willy. We have established that Toby, Gabe and Daddy all have willies but Toby is still not entirely convinced that mummy does not despite regularly following my to the toilet!

Toby is just generally pretty hilarious these days. His language is still developing so quickly and he comes out with the funniest things. He’s just such a cheeky chap…

And just yesterday I overheard something that almost made me cry, and it made me realise what a lovely caring big brother Toby is becoming. Both boys had just finished their tea and I was popping back and forth to the kitchen tidying up. Gabe gave a bit of a cry and I heard Toby say ‘It’s OK Gabe, I’m here’ – just too adorable for words!

11 April , 201610 April , 2016 - Sarah 7 Comments

Living Arrows 15/52 (2016)

In all honesty we’ve had a rotten week and I think probably the less said about it the better. We’ve all been ill (apart from Toby miraculously), Gabe has been miserable all week and none of us has got very much sleep.

On Saturday though the sun shone and we managed to get out of the house for a little walk through the woods just round the corner. Toby had a lovely time running through the trees and jumping in muddy puddles. I just love this action shot…

And Gabe had a nice nap and woke up just as we got home. As you can see his face is probably about 50% snot at the moment. He did manage half a smile at least…

4 April , 2016 - Sarah 6 Comments

Living Arrows 14/52 (2016)

We’ve actually had a couple of days of nice weather this week (although as I write this it’s raining again) and on Wednesday we managed to get out in the garden to take March’s Me & Mine photos. When we were done with the family pictures Toby had a good run around. He’s just discovered shadows so was having a lot of fun chasing his round the garden!

In the second half of this week Gabe has been ill again – another cold, another temperature, gunky eyes again. I feel so sorry for him, but for us too because there have been quite a lot of sleepless nights lately. Anyway, I did take this photo last weekend of Gabe enjoying some homemade pancake for the first time. I know this is a very similar picture to last week’s Living Arrows but when he’s in his high chair enjoying some food Gabe is often at his happiest, and easiest to photograph as he can’t go anywhere!

28 March , 201627 March , 2016 - Sarah 10 Comments

Living Arrows 13/52 (2016)

Toby loves nothing more than to make himself a nest out of the sofa cushions and get comfy to watch some TV, or to hide underneath them in his ‘house’. It’s quite sweet – but also quite annoying for anyone else who would like to sit on the sofa at the same time as he insists on using all the cushions!

He looks like he might be contemplating something deep and meaningful here but he was actually just engrossed in the Octonauts!

Gabe has finally recovered from his cold (although as I type this I think there’s another one brewing). He’s getting on great with weaning and is now having three ‘meals’ a day. He seems to be enjoying his daily breakfast challenge of ‘pick up the Cheerios’ at least!

21 March , 201620 March , 2016 - Sarah 11 Comments

Living Arrows 12/52 (2016)

It’s been a fairly quiet week here. Gabe has just about recovered from his cold and turned seven months old, and Toby’s just been getting on with being two and a half, just like he always does!

We had a fun morning at soft play on Wednesday and Toby really showed how much his confidence has grown when he was playing on the big kids bit. He continued his progress this weekend at the park. It was a lovely sunny day on Saturday so we walked up to one of the bigger play parks near where we live. He really showed no fear climbing up to the top of the slide… I’m loving this new adventurous phase of his!

Gabe has been adventuring in his own way this week too. Toby is very possessive of his toys and doesn’t really like sharing with Gabe. So when Toby is at nursery Gabe loves a chance to get his hands on all those things he can’t play with in the mornings!

14 March , 201615 March , 2016 - Sarah 5 Comments

Living Arrows 11/52 (2016)

I feel like I’m repeating myself, but this last week has been very much like the one before. Gabe still has his cold and hasn’t been sleeping much. After getting some drops from the doctor his eyes have cleared up at least, and although he’s still snotty he does seem to improving slightly.

Toby is still just being lovely, funny, sometimes whiney, Toby. Most of the time he is lovely but he’s been getting a bit too attached to playing on the CBeebies app on my Kindle lately and we’ve had some tears when it’s been time to turn it off. I found him a colouring app too (which doesn’t let you go outside the lines) that I thought he would enjoy…which he did but every single picture he just wanted to colour them all purple! I’m assuming this is just normal toddler behaviour and not some sort of obsessiveness I should be worried about. We definitely need to work on limiting Kindle time though before it starts being an issue. He does call the Kindle the tiny telly though (we used to watch quite a bit of iPlayer on it when it was younger because it was the only way to get him to stay still when changing his nappy) which is pretty cute.

Anyway, to this week’s pictures. They were both just taken one morning at home – I’d been taking some product shots for a review and Toby wanted his picture taken so I took the opportunity to take a few of both of them.

I do love a good face shot of Toby – I don’t know where the scratches on his nose came from though, I think he must have done it in his sleep.

And as for Gabe, you can see he’s still suffering with his cold by the two streams of snot pouring down his face, but he still managed to crack a smile.

Toby Goes Bananas

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Living Arrows